Finite element investigation of cutting performance of Cr/W-DLC/DLC composite coated cutting tool

DLC has been applied as coating material in the machining of difficult-to-cut materials, and shows a good cutting performance. In this study, Cr/W-DLC/DLC-coated tools were compared with other three kinds of coated tools (TiC-, TiAlN-, Al2O3-) to investigate the cutting performance in the machining of Al–Si alloy. The influence of Cr/W-DLC/DLC-coated tools on the cutting performance under different cutting speeds was studied. Cutting force, cutting temperature, heat partition coefficient, cutting deformation rate, plastic deformation of machined surface, the interface temperature, and stress were investigated numerically with the aid of finite element method (FEM). Actual cutting experiments were carried out to verify the FEM models by means of the cutting force and cutting temperature measurement. The investigation results show that Cr/W-DLC/DLC-coated tool had the best cutting performance among these four kinds of coated tools. With the increasing of cutting speeds, cutting force and cutting temperature showed an increase trend, while the plastic deformation depth of machined surface and heat partition into cutting tool all showed a decrease trend during the machining with Cr/W-DLC/DLC-coated tool. This investigation can provide the theory basis or technical guidance for the cutting practice with Cr/W-DLC/DLC-coated tools.